The rights of the elderly to drive should only be limited if we in turn go after the most dangerous demographic on the road: teens.

No driving after 65? Ok, no driving before 21 as well. 18 with proof of driving classes. No more idiot 16/17 yr olds tearing around in their little Hondas cutting folks off and driving like they own the roads.

None of that stops teens from driving nice during the test and then being assholes on the road. I think there's a thing in Germany for motorcyclists where you have to ride a year on a smaller cc bike before moving up to the big leagues. Something like that might help combat immature driving. They can have their ghetto blaster Hondas - with HP restrictions and limiters.

But, I live in America, land of "fuck you, I do what I want," so that would never fly.

Originally Posted by Cattaclysmic

Hey Elsa, do you wanna build a strawmaaaan?

Originally Posted by Grummgug

Europe is a protectorate. Basically a colony of the US.

Originally Posted by spinner981

I have arrived at the conclusion that [observational proof] doesn't exist.

I agree with the OP that seniors should have restrictions on their legal ability to drive. I also agree with those who are arguing for tougher restrictions on teenagers as well. In the interest of safety, it's probably best to pad both extremes of the age spectrum.

Orlong, you realize that, just in the past year, there have been a lot more serious and deadly accidents perpetrated by young people in their early to mid 20s? A great many more than there have been issues with elderly drivers.

That's because elderly drivers go 40mph in the fast lane with their left blinker on.

I know places around here have installed concrete poles in recent years like you see at airports just to keep the old folk who shouldn't be driving from plowing through the place, it's happened that often.

My mother owns a store and one took down about 1/8 of the building next to her when he thought he has in reverse and gunned it forward after leaving another business.

Not to say that all old people are terrible drivers. My grandfather is 78 or so and plenty good at it still. Goes a bit slow on the highways sometimes but at least stays in the right hand lane.

They can dynamite Devil Reef, but that will bring no relief, Y'ha-nthlei is deeper than they know.

I know places around here have installed concrete poles in recent years like you see at airports just to keep the old folk who shouldn't be driving from plowing through the place, it's happened that often.

Most businesses actually do this not to protect from elderly but to protect people from using a car to break into a store at night by driving through the entrance.

I agree teen drivers are bad too, but at least they usually just drive into trees and only kill themselves instead of killing large groups of people. I think driving tests are too easy and minimum driving age is way too low. Hell when I took my test in 1988 It only took 5 minutes and consisted of turning out of the testing center onto a road which had nearly no traffic since it was out in the country. I then drive about 2 miles and made a left turn onto another road. I then drove about 200 yards and did a 3 point turn and drove back to the testing center and that was it. I thought it was ridiculous.

I think you shouldnt be able to drive in a car by yourself until 18 and no permits until 17. You should also be required to take a minimum of 100 hours of behind the wheel training with a certified instructor (perhaps given in school in place of a study hall which is normally just an hour for teens to goof off anyway). The driving test itself should be at least 30 minutes long and take place in a variety of driving conditions such as wet roads, congested traffic, and highway driving. It should also include all types of parking including parallel parking

---------- Post added 2013-01-15 at 07:07 PM ----------

Nope, hence all the stories listed above, and I hear about these hundreds of times a year. At least twice a week I see a story like this

---------- Post added 2013-01-15 at 07:11 PM ----------

I wouldnt say there was more. Maybe deadlier because young people like to treat roads like racetracks. This is why I would support a law forbidding anyone under the age of 25 from owning or driving a car with more than 125 horsepower and/or a law requiring governors on cars driven by drivers under 25 limiting the speed of the car to 70 mph

terrible logic is still terrible. Out of control drivers are out of control drivers, regardless of age. To pigeonhole the elderly as the problem shows a complete lack of knowledge of the situation. And then to say that at least teenagers only run into trees? Really? Seriously?

The only thing that I would agree with is mandatory driver tests. I'd suggest once every 5 years, regardless of age. Bad drivers are bad drivers

I know, older people seem like the easier targets here. But young drivers are still more dangerous.

Have fun:

Originally Posted by AAA

Figure 2 shows the crash involvement rate per 10,000 drivers and per 100 million miles driven in relation to driver age for the three periods when the exposure metrics were available. During all three periods, the per-driver crash involvement rate decreased with increasing driver age until about age 60-69, and then leveled off. The mileage-based crash rate also decreased with increasing driver age until ages 60-69, and then increased slightly as age increased beyond this range. Drivers in their 70’s were involved in about the same number of crashes per mile driven as drivers in their 30’s, drivers ages 80-84 were involved in about the same number of crashes per mile driven as drivers ages 25-29, and drivers ages 85 and older were involved in about the same number of crashes per mile driven as drivers ages 20-24. Teenage drivers had by far the highest rates of crash involvement both in relation to their share of the driving population and in relation to the amount of driving that they did.

Figure 2 also shows that both per-driver and per-mile crash rates decreased for drivers of all ages between the 1995-1996 period and the 2008-2009 period. Interestingly, whereas the largest decreases in per-driver crash rates were experienced by the youngest drivers — the per-driver crash rates of drivers ages 16-17 decreased by 46 percent and those of drivers ages 18-19 decreased by 43 percent — the mileage-based crash rates decreased the most for drivers ages 75-79 (42%) and 80-84 (40%) (Table 2).

I think the time has come to finally tackle this problem and forbid ANYONE over the age of 65 from driving unless they can pass an on the road driving test every year

Most accidents are done by 18-30 year old drivers. So it's logical that those need to do the test every 6 months, right? And who will pay for that?

Whenever I read a reply to me that starts with, "So what you're saying is..." -- and I've read so, so many -- my first thought is,
"What I'm saying is what I'm saying, otherwise I would've said something else."

Why are people so afraid to discuss the dangers of elderly drivers being on the road. Just in the last year there have been many many instances of them driving into buildings and plowing over crowds of people. Here are some examples:

These all happened in just the last 2 months and I could site hundreds more. It is only going to get worse with all the baby boomers getting old. Even when they aren't running into buildings and crowds of people they are a hazard and general nuisance to everyone else on the road. They park crooked, drive half the speed limit, cause accidents changing lanes since they cant turn their head around to look behind them, and back out of their driveways onto roads without looking. Also why do they almost always have a gigantic car like a Chevy Impala from the 70s.

I think the time has come to finally tackle this problem and forbid ANYONE over the age of 65 from driving unless they can pass an on the road driving test every year

wouldnt agree more, someone i know... or knew was on a moped coming home and was hit by an elderly man and drug down the road a very long way until i guess he got to a red light and someone said holy shit that guy has someone under his car. end of the story we pulled the plug on him, he was braindead.

A few years back, my grandmother almost got us t-boned, on my side of the car. She was waiting to turn left from the turn lane, and she waited until there was only one more person to go by, and then pulled out. The guy had to slam on his brakes and he honked, and my grandmother legitimately asked grumpily "well, what are you honking about?" I had to tell her that she pulled out in front of him and almost got us hit... -_-

Once over the age of 65 you should be forced to do the vision test once per year and a road test twice a year. I agree young drivers also suck, raise the age to drive to 18.

The problem with this is, do you want kids going off to college as fresh drivers? At least 15-17 most are in an area they are comfortable with and under the guidance of their parents.

I guess the big question is, which is worse, poor knowledge but the ability to act when needed, or having the knowledge but the inability or at least least reduced ability to do anything about it.

I may be a bit biased as when I started driving I had a fairly crappy car and noticed last second that a very old man was driving his minivan halfway in my lane over a small hill, so neither of us could have know sooner, all on a smaller backroad set at 55. If there had not been a turn lane (the other options was to hit a tree), I would likely be dead now.

My grandfather was driving until his late 70s. He was a great driver wasn't going super slow or almost hitting people. So if he were still with us that would be unfair to him. Just make the elderly take a test.

My great grandparents drove til they were nearly 90. At one point they quit driving at night, but eventually they realized they just needed to quit driving altogether. I think they just had a hard time accepting that they were getting to the point/age where they were going to require help from now on, and they probably drove a little longer than they should have.

I know my one set of grandparents fought like cats and dogs over us trying to take their licenses away. We had to get the doctor to finally tell them to give it up. Strangely they trusted him over him so they reluctantly stopped driving. Almost would like to see something like if your over 60 you get tested every 2 to 5 years and if your over 80 you get tested every year.